Moscow rips into ‘vicious practice’ of extraditing Russian nationals to US

Moscow voiced outrage over the arrest of a Russian national in the Dominican Republic and his swift transfer to a US jail without Russia’s consent or knowledge last month. Moscow deemed Aleksander Panin’s extradition “unacceptable."

The incident, which transpired in June, only became known a month
later when it turned out that the 24-year-old programmer from the
Russian town of Tver was wanted for cyber-crimes.

Panin appears to have been on the Interpol’s highest priority
‘red list’, as he was wanted for embezzlement through Internet
banking scams totaling 5 million dollars. He is suspected of
being a part of a gang that robbed banks via the Internet.

His story currently raises more questions than answers. The key
is, why did US authorities choose not to inform the Russian
Foreign Ministry about Panin’s extradition to America, which was
carried out without Russia’s consent.
"Of course, we are seriously concerned about the fact that it
again concerns the arrest of a Russian citizen with a US warrant
in a third country. We think the fact that such practices are
becoming a vicious tendency is absolutely unacceptable and
inadmissible," Russian Foreign Ministry Information and Press
Department Deputy Director Maria Zakharova said.

Panin’s mother Inessa was visibly distraught when she spoke to
RT. She said her son was visiting a friend in the Dominican
Republic when he was arrested on his way back home.

“They first told him that he was detained just to get his
papers checked. Local authorities promised to send him back to
Russia on the next flight. But the plane took him to the US, a
country where he’s never even been to.”

Panin’s mother does not believe her son could have been engaged
in anything illegal.

“He is interested in computers, but mostly he is a person of
science. I can believe that he wrote a computer program, that’s
what he does. He develops software, but I can’t believe what he
is accused of,” she said.

Panin’s friend Anton Pilyugin added that Alexander was initially
detained for over 24 hours. The next thing his friend learned was
that Panin was in a US prison.

Last week a representative from the Russian embassy's consular
department visited Panin in a penitentiary in the state of
Georgia.

There are dozens of cases similar to Panin’s, Russian diplomats
say. The top priority for the next few days is to get official
comment from the US officials in Washington.

"We have repeatedly told the US that if there are demands for
our citizens, it is necessary to send relevant requests to the
Russian law enforcement authorities on the basis of the
1999-bilateral agreement on mutual legal assistance in criminal
cases. However, this is still not being done," Zakharova
said.

While Russia continues to take “all the necessary measures to
ensure the lawful rights of Panin", his friend Anton told RT
there is no information coming from the US regarding Alexander’s
status.

“We don’t even know what he has been accused of. We have
no clue about what to expect,” Pilyugin said.

“This week he is to be given access to his file. But since he
doesn’t have a good command of English, this may not be very
helpful.”

On July 22, another Russian citizen, Dmitry Ustinov, was
extradited to the United States, this time from Lithuania. He was
allegedly engaged in smuggling night-vision goggles.

In November 2010, Thai authorities extradited Viktor Bout, the
former owner of an air transport company, for allegedly
supporting terrorism and being involved in the illegal arms
trade.

Bout was arrested in 2008 during a US sting operation in
Thailand. Extradited to the United States two years later, the
Russian citizen was convicted one year later for conspiring to
sell arms to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) -
a group the United States ranks as a terrorist organization.

The charges against Bout also featured “conspiracy to kill US
citizens.”

In May 2010, a Russian pilot was arrested in Liberia and
transported to the US on charges of drug trafficking. In 2011
Konstantin Yaroshenko was sentenced to 20 years in prison for
allegedly conspiring to smuggle cocaine into the United States.

Earlier this year Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he
“regrets” the number of unresolved cases involving Russian
nationals abroad. The Foreign Minister pointed to Russians “who
found themselves in the United States” because they were found
guilty of serious violations of international law by US special
services. Lavrov was referring specifically to the cases of Bout
and Yaroshenko, who are serving out lengthy prison terms in the
US.